The Frelinghuysen family

A New Jersey dynasty whose run on the national ballot stretches from 1844 to 2016.
New Jersey · President · Senate · House
Combined career popular votes
5,116,921
Combined electoral votes
105
Members on the ballot
4
Combined W–L
24–2
Years on the ballot
1844–2016

Few families have stayed in public life as long as the Frelinghuysens of New Jersey. Theodore Frelinghuysen was the Whig vice-presidential nominee in 1844, Joseph S. Frelinghuysen served in the U.S. Senate in the 1920s, and Peter and then Rodney Frelinghuysen held a New Jersey House seat across the second half of the 20th century and into the 21st.

The Frelinghuysen family members, ranked by career popular votes
MemberOfficesYearsCareer popular votesRecord
Joseph S. FrelinghuysenRSenate1916–1922607,41411
Peter FrelinghuysenRHouse1952–19721,368,662110
Rodney P. FrelinghuysenRHouse1994–20161,841,783120
Theodore FrelinghuysenWPresident18441,299,06201

How this is measured

Combined career popular votes are summed across the 4 family members we track, each counted once across every presidential, U.S. Senate, governor, and U.S. House election in our data. Family membership is hand-curated and verified against primary sources, never matched by surname alone, so unrelated namesakes are never folded in. A vote for a presidential ticket counts for both the president and the vice-presidential candidate, matching how each profile reports its own totals.

Compiled by PolitiFinder · published June 14, 2026 · sources: Data & sources.